Concrete ship construction



c; w. DONALD SON. coucms 'SHIP' CONSTRUCTION.- APPLICATION} FILED mule. 191s.

Patented May 3,1921.

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c. w. nomwsou. CONCRETE SHIP CONSTRUCTIONu' APPLICATION FILED IAN- 3- I918- Patented May 3,1921.-

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CONCRETE SHIP CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED JAN-3,1918.

1,377,153. Patented y 3, 1921.

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. SPEECH CHARLES w. DONALDSON, or nxnonyorrro.

To all whom it may. concern."

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. DONALD SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Concrete Ship Constructions, of

which the following is a specification.

-These improvements have to do with ship constructionutilizing as its structural material reinforced concrete.

The employment of such material for floating bodies is not new but the prior uses of concrete for this purpose have been necessarily limited by reason of the inability to overcome the difficulties of compensating for the peculiar stresses to which such objects are subjected, as well as the disadvantages arising from the weight ofthe material and resultant excessive displacement of thevessel where attempt is made to compensate for the stresses referred to by increasing the thickness of the structural and large quantities of lumber, progress of;

building being obviously very slow, however, so as to render 1t lmpracticable as constructlon material for the purpose of providing floatingbodies with reasonable swiftness and with unskilled labor, especially where they are of large carrying capacity.

I overcome these disadvantagesby so arranging the reinforcingmaterial as to constitute theonly requiredform producing means wherebya' monolithic wall, beam and column I -structure .is produced, such reinforcement becoming a permanent part of the body, and

thepeculiar shaping of which involves the principle of arch construction, so adequately' designed [to resist both the tensile and compressive stresses peculiar to ships.

By virtue of the design utilized I am able to provide a double wall or hull'construction of cellular type and-a floor or deck relativelyrthin considering its weight sus-' tainingv reopuirements, so that the ratio of CONCRETE SHIP CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

weight to displacement under mv method Wlll not exceed the similar ratio in steel.

fI Iitherto in carrying this idea of construction into practice so much structural iron or steel has been employed as to greatly detract from any advantages derived from using concrete. On the other hand I am able to dispense. with heavy reinforcingelements solely by reason of the use of the arch or dome formation principle'which'so distributes or equalizes the weight as to eliminate necessity for use of forms and to prevent breaking down of the given shape or form ofthe foraminous reinforcing material I employ.

To this end the invention consists in the constructlon, combination and arrangement of parts all as hereinafter more fully described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying vdrawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentarysectional view v Patented May 3, 1921. Application filed. January 3, 191s.- SeriaLNo. 210,182.

o f/a' hull, a portion of the outer hull wall or section being broken away to show more cl early the cellular formation Fig.2 is an enlarged horizontal sectlonal view of a section'of the .hull;

Fig. 3 is a similar view taken atright Referring to the drawings and brieflylde- I scribing the method of construction of ships contemplated by me, I first dispose the outer and inner fabricated walls ofthe hull in the desired spacedrelation to each otherv as indicated at 1 and 2 respectively. These'walls consist of anydesired type of metal lath or expanded metalv reinforcing material,

though preferably containing in their structure suitable stiffening means such as rods whereby said relnforcing material maintains its glven shape. In Fig. 8, for example, 8

i designates thev expanded metal or forami-- nous material and 4. the stiffeningrods attached thereto by loops 5 pressed from the material or by clipping the rods in place in any well known manner. The rods 4, as will be observed particularly in Fig. 5,-run longitudinally of the boat and are designed to assist in resisting the tensile stresses. These spaced walls run up in parallel relation to the approximate height of the deck where the deck formation is startedr At this point the reinforcing material curves.v

Fig. 8. In eachinstance the rods are ex posed so that "they will be surrounded by and united with the concrete material in the manner hereinafter described. If preferred, the V-shaped material may be suitably provided with a fiber backing 9 which will constitute the protective covering for the reinforcing material on those interior surfaces where it is impracticable to coating.

Interposed between the inner and outer walls 1 and 2 are cavity producing members acting as forms'which constitute a very essential feature of this invention. Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 it will be observed that these cavity forms are elliptical in horizontal cross section and are arranged in spaced relation, the fabric or metal lathing being suitably tied in place by means of ties 10 attached to the walls 1 and 2 or to vertical rods 11 which are arranged between the said hull walls and the cavity forms. The top apply a' cement Y of the cavity forms is arched not only trancversely but also in a longitudinal direction as shown in Fig. 3, thus producing what I call an arch or dome formation.

As shown in Fig. 5 the arching of the cavity in the transverse direction as indioated at 12 conforms substantially to the arching indicated at 6 and the reinforcing material is additionally tied as the formation of the wall proceeds by certain ties 13 which are connected to reinforcing rods 14 extending longitudinally of the boat in the spandrels between the interior arches of the ship walls hereinbefore described. As the disposition of these reinforcing materials proceeds the concrete is poured into the space between the inner and outer reinforcing wall members 1 and 2 at points between the contiguous ends of the cavity forms what I term the interior beam and column or ribs of the hull. The concrete furthermore, in the deck formation progresses along with the wall formation so that I obtain a perstruction.

fectly monolithic structure when the ship is completed.

As observed in Figs. 1 and 5, at suitable intervals are arranged columns 15 which are produced by the arrangement of reinforcing material in circular configuration as shown in Fig. 6 at 16, said material having vertical reinforcing rods 17 connected thereto. The concrete is poured into such forms preferably, and subsequently the columns are given an outer coating of concrete as is also true of both the inner and outer hull walls. It is to be understood that in following this method of construction the metal reinforcing material may be given the exterior coating of concrete preliminary to the filling, or the filling may be preliminarily carried out and the outer concrete coating subsequently applied. At any rate as the wall of the hull progresses in formation I preferably give the interior surface of the cavities a coating of concrete also, which may be done by manual application or gunning in the well known manner so that the metal will be entirely embedded within the concrete material and thus preventing the water from affecting the metal and causing deterioration within the concrete structure.

Thereinforcing material, it will be understood, is arranged in arch formation from the column toward the walls and from column to column so that there exists a continuity of the arch construction throughout the entire formation of the structural parts of the vessel. Between column and wall or column and column the reinforcing material is suitably shored up temporarily by supports arranged at intervals so as to assist the arch and walls in sustaining the weight of the material until thoroughly set. This shoring does not partake of any temporary or removable form structure whatever, this being entirely unnecessary in my type of con- The deck or floor slab of concrete is poured upon the metal reinforc ing until the proper depth is obtained and by reason of the combined arch and beam formation I am able to use a thinner floor slab than would'be possible with any other usual beam and column or beam and wall formation not embodying the arch principle.

At this point it is to be noted that the cavity forms are so arranged in the ship walls as to lie between the planes of the decks and coincide in disposition further with the transverse arrangement of the reinforcing materials for the deck supports. In other words, the interior structure of the ship walls is itself a beam and column or beam and wall construction, that part of the concrete filling indicated at 18in Fig. 2 being in alinement with the column arrangement between decks. The portions 18 in a vertical plane extend continuously from the upper deck to the keel of tlit'a gship,thus forming ribs, and in the forma'tio n of'the floor beams which are best shown at 18" in- Fig. 1 the continuity ofconstruction is, also employed so that these: beams provide transverse and longitudinal ribs. From this it follows that the stresses which are sustained by the ship in the transverse direction are transmitted from the outer hull wall through the deck beam and column elements which are throughout of the arch formation and thus best adapted to properly equalize the stresses transmitted thereto. In exactly the same manner, speaking with reference to a longitudinal section of the boat the stresses along longitudinal lines are transmitted from end to end of the ship by reason of the peculiar arch formation of the walls and decks. Having in view the utilization of the longitudinal reinforcing rods 4 and 14 and the arch formation hereinbefore described, a ship constructed in ac-' cordance with my method is best adapted to sustain the tensile and compressive stresses to which ships are particularly subjected and regardless of the rapidity with which a reversion of these stresses takes place.

In Fig. 4 the interior hull formation is slightly difl'erent from that shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and being particularly adapted for ships of smaller capacity or size where the strength of the walls of the hull may be decreased. In this formation the air spaces or cavities in the hull are formed by using a reinforcing material which in horizontal section is semi-elliptical.

It is notable that interior form producing material, which is also a reinforcement, is curved on a radius substantially bisecting the angle between the hull wall and deck whereby to form an arched support at the juncture of the deck and wall. Also as regards the hull wall, said wall may be characterized as of double construction so formed as to produce therein longitudinal and transversal beams between the wall elements, said beams forming compartments embodying vertical side walls arched fore and aft, end walls arched transversely, and top walls arched transversely and longitudinally. lhe bottom wall is of course fiat.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is: V

1. A boat construction of the class described comprising a monolithic hull wall, beam and column construction having embedded therein foraminous reinforcing material initially constituting the form producing means for the boat and forming a permanent part of the structure, the interior outlines of, said reinforcing material at the junctures between the walls, beams and columns being curved to form arching supports.

boat the class describedcompris-i ing a wall construction of reinforced concrete,- the wall being provided with cavities the upper interior outline of which cavities and 'deck is arched in'conformation. A

' 3. A: double walled concrete craft so. i formed as 'to'p'rovide longitudinal and trans are formed by cavity producing members of reinforcing material, said members being disposed between the wall elements so as to permit of concrete being disposed in such a manner as to embed these members in the double wall structure.

5. A boat of the class described comprising a monolithic concrete hull and deck of beam and column formation, the hull having cavities therein also of beam and column formation and coinciding with the similar formation of the deck, the forms aforesaid being arched in both transverse and longitudinal directions.

6. A boat of the class described comprising a hull of reinforced concrete, said hull having cavity producing forms arranged in spaced relation, the interior outline of the cavities being arched in both directions of the ship. I i

7. A boat of the class described comprising a hull of reinforced concrete, said hull having dome shaped cavities within the wall 7 thus forming an inner and outer skin.

8. The method of constructing reinforced concrete hulls of ships which consists in placing an outer wall of reinforcing material in the desired position and an 1111181 wall of such material in spaced relation thereto, interposing between such walls spaced cavity producing forms and tying said forms and walls together, and finally filling in between the walls and between the cavity forms with concrete whereby to produce a cellular hull of beam and column construction.

9. The method of constructing reinforced concrete hulls of ships which consists in placing an outer wall of reinforcing material in the desired position and an inner wall of such material in spaced relation thereto, in-

terposing between such walls spaced cavity producing forms and tying said forms and walls together, filling in between the walls and between the cavity forms with concrete whereby to produce a cellular hull of beam scribed comprising a monolithic hull Wall, junctures between the walls, beams and beam and column construction havin'g emcolumns being curved to form arching supbedded therein foraminous reinforcing maports, and stifiening members attached to the 10 terial initially constituting the form proforaminous material for holding said maducing means for the boat and forming a terial in the given shape.

permanent part of the structure, the interior In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. outlinesof said reinforcing material at the CHARLES DONALDSON. 

